A thermofusible transfer system is conventionally known, by which energy corresponding to image information is applied to a heating device such as a thermal head, using a thermal transfer sheet in which a thermofusible ink layer having a colorant such as a pigment dispersed in a binder such as a thermofusible wax or resin is supported on a substrate sheet such as a plastic film, and the colorant is transferred together with the binder onto a transfer-receiving paper such as paper or a plastic sheet (Patent Literature 1). An image formed by the thermofusible transfer system has excellent sharpness and a high density, and is suitable for the recording of binary images such as characters and line drawings. Furthermore, formation of multicolor images or color images is also enabled by repeatedly performing recording on a transfer-receiving paper using thermal transfer sheets of yellow, magenta, cyan, black, and other colors.
Since various kinds of printing can be conveniently formed using a thermal head or the like in such a thermofusible transfer system, the thermofusible transfer system is also used for printing characters, bar codes, and the like in order to implement management of manufactured products and the like in industrial plants.